SAP® Signavio can be integrated with Ardoq to align detailed process maps with broader enterprise goals. By connecting process insights from SAP® Signavio with Ardoq’s models, organizations can ensure that operation workflows support architectural standards and business strategies. The integration enhances decision making, facilitates compliance, optimizes resource allocation, and drives digital transformation by providing a holistic view of process effectiveness and architectural alignment within the enterprise framework.
Please note:The speed of the import is impacted by API volume constraints put in place by SAP® Signavio.
Video walkthrough of the SAP® Signavio Importer
How to set up the SAP® Signavio integration
You must first have a SAP® Signavio account to set up a SAP® Signavio integration. If you would like to test the integration capabilities, you can register for a free account at Signavio.com. The integration functions for both paid and trial accounts.
To get started with creating a Signavio connection in Ardoq:
Navigate to Home > Imports and integrations from the Ardoq main menu
Click View all integrations
Select SAP Signavio Importer tab
Click on the Connections tab
Click Connect to SAP Signavio or New Connection, and fill out the following details in the connection modal:
Connection name: Any name you'd like to call the connection. You'll use this connection when you move to importing Signavio data.
Base URL: (this is the domain in your Signavio account URL, in this example, our Signavio account is accessed at https://editor.signavio.com)
Enter your the username and password for the Signavio account. Keep in mind that this user account should have the appropriate privileges to read from and write to (functionality coming soon) the Signavio tenant.
Workspace ID (or Tenant ID): This can be found by clicking on the “?” icon on the Signavio home screen, in the “Workspace ID” field.
Press the Connect button to validate the connection
You can now click Create New Import to begin the process of importing data from Signavio.
Select Data
Select Connection
Now you're ready to set up the connection. Select the connection you'd like to set up. Note: this is the connection name you set in the prior step.
Select tables (data entities) and fields
Choose which process entities you want to import to Ardoq.
The Signavio importer integration supports importing the following data entities from Signavio:
Dictionary Categories: Top-level dictionary parent collection
Examples: “Departments”, “Activities”, “IT Systems”, “Roles”, etc.
Dictionary Entries: Entries belonging to dictionary category parents
Examples: “Human Resources”, “Employee Onboarding”, “Workday”, “Head of HR”, etc.
Processes: An end-to-end process composed of activities,
Examples: “Verify Applicant”, “Procure Parts”, etc.
Activities: The actions or activities that make up an end-to-end process
Examples: “Clarify questions with the department”, “Check quality and quantity”, etc.
Process Categories: The categorical parent of a collection of processes
Example: “Support Processes” is the process category of the “Employee Onboarding” process, which can be further decomposed into the supporting activities such as “Set up access rights, hardware and software”.
Select Fields
After selecting each table, you can also choose the corresponding field to be included in the import. The following fields are available per table:
Dictionary Categories:
Available fields:
Dictionary category ID: The unique ID belonging to each imported dictionary category. Importing this ID allows linking dictionary entries to their respective Dictionary Category parent
Dictionary category name: The name of the dictionary category (e.g. “IT Applications”)
Parent dictionary category ID: If the dictionary category has a parent, the ID will be contained in this field
Dictionary Entries:
Available fields:
Dictionary entry ID: The unique ID belonging to each imported dictionary entry. Importing this ID allows linking dictionary entries to their respective Dictionary Category parent
Dictionary entry name: The name of the dictionary entry (e.g. “Windows 11”)
Description: Any text included in the dictionary entry’s description field within Signavio
Signavio dictionary entry URL: The unique URL to the dictionary entry in Signavio. This field can be imported to create a clickable link from Ardoq components to navigate directly to the corresponding dictionary entry within Signavio.com when clicked
Processes:
Available fields:
Process ID: The unique ID for each end-to-end process. This can be used to link processes to their underlying activities.
Process name: The name of the process.
Process parent category ID: The ID of the parent category that the process belongs to. This is useful for linking processes to their categorical parent.
Description: The description of the process as created and shown within Signavio.
Signavio process URL: The unique URL to the Process in Signavio. This field can be imported to create a clickable link from Ardoq components to navigate directly to the corresponding process within Signavio.com when clicked.
Activities:
Available fields:
Activity unique ID: The unique ID for each activity. This can be used to link activities to parent processes they are performed within.
Activity name: The name of the activity.
Activity type: The BPMN activity classification type (e.g. “task” or “processCollapsed” for a collapsed sub process).
Parent process ID: The unique ID of the parent process. This is required in order to link an activity to the parent process that contains it.
Description: The description of the activity as created and shown within Signavio.
Signavio process activity URL: The unique URL to the activity in Signavio. This field can be imported to create a clickable link from Ardoq.
NB!: There will be additional “custom attributes” available for Activities in the next step of the import if they are present in Signavio. For example, there may be custom attribute called “accountable” in an activity that specifies which employee role is accountable for the activity. In such a case, there will be a column called “accountable” in the next step of the import mapping for the Activities table.
Process Categories:
Available fields:
Process category ID: The unique ID for each process category. This can be used to processes to their parent categories.
Parent process category ID: The unique ID for the parent process category (if exists), as well as recreating process folder structure within Ardoq. This can be used to link process categories to a parent process category. Example: “Human Resources is a parent category to the “Onboarding”category.
Process category name: The name of the process category.
Description: The description of the process category as created and shown within Signavio.
Signavio folder URL: The unique URL to the process category folder in Signavio. This field can be imported to create a clickable link from Ardoq to the folder within the process folder directory in Signavio.
Map data and relationships
There are several use cases that can be supported in the current beta version of the Signavio importer. This documentation outlines the following use cases:
Import only dictionary entries
Import only processes and process categories
Import processes + activities
Import processes + activities + relations to other dictionary entries (IT applications, roles, etc.)
Custom filtering is enabled for selecting a subset of data, click here to read more about using the filter.
1 — Import only dictionary entries (and respective categories)
To import only dictionary entries and their categories, follow these steps:
Configure the Dictionary Category tab
Click Create New Import and select your source Signavio connection
Click on the “Dictionary Categories” table on the left side, then click Add all to add all of the default fields
Next, click the “Dictionary Entries” table on the left column and then click Add all to add all available fields
Click Fetch data
Click Components in step 1 of the import mapping
Choose an existing or create new target workspace by typing a new workspace name
On the “Dictionary Categories” tab, configure the first column by clicking on the pencil icon and choosing “Custom ID” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Dictionary category name” and select “Component (name)” as the column type
Change the component type to Dictionary category”
Repeast the same step for “Parent dictionary id” and choose “parent component” as the column type
Click Format dropdown and choose “Custom ID”
Click Field name dropdown and choose “Dictionary category id”
Repeat the same step for Signavio dictionary category URL” and choose “field” as the column type
Configure the Dictionary Entries tab
Click the Dictionary Entries import tab
Click Components in step 1 of the import mapping
Choose an existing or create new target workspace by typing a new workspace name
Configure the first column by clicking on the pencil icon and choosing “Custom ID” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Dictionary entry name” and select “Component (name)” as the column type
Change the component type to “Dictionary entry”
Repeat the same step for “Parent dictionary category ID” and select “Parent component” as the column type
Click Format dropdown and choose “Custom ID”
Click Field name dropdown and choose “Dictionary category id”
Repeat the same step for “Description” and select “Description” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Signavio dictionary entry URL” and select “Field” as the column type
Click Review import
You should now see the number of components to be created and can click Import my data
Note: You may see warnings for duplicate component entries. This is normal when importing data of this structure
It is beneficial to save your created configuration in the case where you would like to import dictionary entries in combination with other data such as activities or activities and processes.
2 — Import only processes and process categories
To import only dictionary entries and their categories, follow these steps:
Configure the Process Category tab
Click Create New Import and select your source Signavio connection
Click on the “Processes” table on the left side, then click Add all to add all of the default fields
Next, click the “Process Categories” table on the left column and then click Add all to add all available fields
Click Fetch data
Click Components in step 1 of the import mapping
Choose an existing or create new target workspace by typing a new workspace name
On the “Process Categories” tab, configure the first column by clicking on the pencil icon and choosing “Custom ID” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Parent process category id” and choose “parent component” as the column type
Click Format dropdown and choose “Custom ID”
Click Field name dropdown and choose “Process category id”
Repeat the same step for “Process category id” and select “Component (name)” as the column type
Change the component type to “Process category”
Repeat the same step for “Description” and select “Description” as the column type
Repeat the same step for Signavio folder URL” and choose “field” as the column type
Configure the Processes tab
Click the Processes import tab
Click Components in step 1 of the import mapping
Choose an existing or create new target workspace
Configure the first column by clicking on the pencil icon and choosing “Custom ID” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Process name” and select “Component (name)” as the column type
Change the component type to “Process”
Repeat the same step for “Parent process category id” and choose “parent component” as the column type
Click Format dropdown and choose “Custom ID”
Click Field name dropdown and choose “Process category id”
Repeat the same step for “Description” and select “Description” as the column type
Repeat the same step for Signavio process URL” and choose “field” as the column type
Click Review import
You should now see the number of components to be created and can click Import my data
Note: You may see warnings for duplicate component entries. This is normal when importing data of this structure
It is beneficial to save your created configuration in the case where you would like to import processes in combination with other data such as activities or dictionary entries
3 — Import only processes and activities
To import only dictionary entries and their categories, follow these steps:
Note: If you have already created a configuration for importing processes and process categories, you can create a new copy of that configuration and add activities to it.
Configure the Process Category tab
Click Create New Import and select your source Signavio connection
Click on the “Processes” table on the left side, then click Add all to add all of the default fields
Next, click the “Process Categories” table on the left column and then click Add all to add all available fields
Next, click on the “Activities” table on the left column and then click Add all to add all available fields
Click Fetch data
Click Components in step 1 of the import mapping
Choose an existing or create new target workspace by typing a new workspace name
On the “Process Categories” tab, configure the first column by clicking on the pencil icon and choosing “Custom ID” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Parent process category id” and choose “parent component” as the column type
Click Format dropdown and choose “Custom ID”
Click Field name dropdown and choose “Process category id”
Repeat the same step for “Process category id” and select “Component (name)” as the column type
Change the component type to “Process category”
Repeat the same step for “Description” and select “Description” as the column type
Repeat the same step for Signavio folder URL” and choose “field” as the column type
Configure the Processes tab
Click the Processes import tab
Click Components in step 1 of the import mapping
Choose an existing or create new target workspace
Configure the first column by clicking on the pencil icon and choosing “Custom ID” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Process name” and select “Component (name)” as the column type
Change the component type to “Process”
Repeat the same step for “Parent process category id” and choose “parent component” as the column type
Click Format dropdown and choose “Custom ID”
Click Field name dropdown and choose “Process category id”
Repeat the same step for “Description” and select “Description” as the column type
Repeat the same step for Signavio process URL” and choose “field” as the column type
Configure the Activities tab
Click the Activities import tab
Click Components in step 1 of the import mapping
Choose an existing or create new target workspace
Configure the first column by clicking on the pencil icon and choosing “Custom ID” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Activity name” and select “Component (name)” as the column type
Change the component type to “Activity”
Repeat the same step for “Activity type” and select “Field” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Parent process id” and select “Reference” as the column type
Choose the Incoming Reference direction
Choose the source workspace for the process (if you are also importing processes in this import session then choose the destination workspace specified in the Processes tab, otherwise choose a previously existing process workspace)
Leave “If source is missing” option to “Block the import” unless otherwise desired
Choose “Process id” in the Field name dropdown
Choose the column type “Description” for the Description column
Repeat the same step for Signavio process activity URL” and choose “field” as the column type
Scroll through the remaining columns to find any additional custom attributes associated with activities that you would like to include as a component field in Ardoq
Click Review import
You should now see the number of components to be created and can click Import my data.
Note: You may see warnings for duplicate component entries. This is normal when importing data of this structure.
Note: It is beneficial to save your created configuration in the case where you would like to import processes and activities in combination with other data such as associated dictionary entries like Roles or IT systems.
4 — Import only processes, activities, and associated dictionary entries (IT systems, roles, capabilities, etc.)
Configure the Process Category tab
Click Create New Import and select your source Signavio connection
Click on the “Processes” table on the left side, then click Add all to add all of the default fields
Next, click the “Process Categories” table on the left column and then click Add all to add all available fields
Next, click on the “Activities” table on the left column and then click Add all to add all available fields
Next, click on the “Dictionary Categories” table on the left side, then click Add all to add all of the default fields
Next, click the “Dictionary Entries” table on the left column and then click Add all to add all available fields
Click Fetch data
Click Components in step 1 of the import mapping
Choose an existing or create new target workspace by typing a new workspace name
On the “Process Categories” tab, configure the first column by clicking on the pencil icon and choosing “Custom ID” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Parent process category id” and choose “parent component” as the column type
Click Format dropdown and choose “Custom ID”
Click Field name dropdown and choose “Process category id”
Repeat the same step for “Process category id” and select “Component (name)” as the column type
Change the component type to “Process category”
Repeat the same step for “Description” and select “Description” as the column type
Repeat the same step for Signavio folder URL” and choose “field” as the column type
Configure the Processes tab
Click the Processes import tab
Click Components in step 1 of the import mapping
Choose an existing or create new target workspace
Configure the first column by clicking on the pencil icon and choosing “Custom ID” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Process name” and select “Component (name)” as the column type
Change the component type to “Process”
Repeat the same step for “Parent process category id” and choose “parent component” as the column type
Click Format dropdown and choose “Custom ID”
Click Field name dropdown and choose “Process category id”
Repeat the same step for “Description” and select “Description” as the column type
Repeat the same step for Signavio process URL” and choose “field” as the column type
Configure the Activities tab
Click the Activities import tab
Click Components in step 1 of the import mapping
Choose an existing or create new target workspace
Configure the first column by clicking on the pencil icon and choosing “Custom ID” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Activity name” and select “Component (name)” as the column type
Change the component type to “Activity”
Repeat the same step for “Activity type” and select “Field” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Parent process id” and select “Reference” as the column type
Choose the Incoming Reference direction
Choose the source workspace for the process (if you are also importing processes in this import session then choose the destination workspace specified in the Processes tab, otherwise choose a previously existing process workspace)
Leave “If source is missing” option to “Block the import” unless otherwise desired
Choose “Process id” in the Field name dropdown
Choose the column type “Description” for the Description column
Repeat the same step for Signavio process activity URL” and choose “field” as the column type
Scroll through the remaining columns to find any additional custom attributes associated with activities that you would like to include as a component field in Ardoq
Custom attributes are often prefixed with the “meta” prefix. As an example, if we have an “IT Systems” custom attribute on a Signavio activity, this would appear in the import sheet as “meta-itsystems”. This column would contain the Dictionary entry ID associated with the referenced IT System in the activity.
To import and reference this IT system, you would perform the following steps:Find the “meta-itsystems” column
Click the pencil icon to configure it
Select the column type “Reference”
Choose the “Outgoing” reference direction
Choose the target workspace for the dictionary entry
Create the reference type “Is supported by”
Choose the “Custom ID” in the Format dropdown
Choose the field name “Dictionary entry id”
This will link the dictionary entry for the IT System to the activity it supports.
Configure the Dictionary Category tab
Click on the Dictionary Category tab
Click Components in step 1 of the import mapping
Choose an existing or create new target workspace by typing a new workspace name.
On the “Dictionary Categories” tab, configure the first column by clicking on the pencil icon and choosing “Custom ID” as the column type.
Repeat the same step for “Dictionary category name” and select “Component (name)” as the column type.
Change the component type to Dictionary category”
Repeast the same step for “Parent dictionary id” and choose “parent component” as the column type.
Click Format dropdown and choose “Custom ID”
Click Field name dropdown and choose “Dictionary category id”
Repeat the same step for Signavio dictionary category URL” and choose “field” as the column type.
Configure the Dictionary Entries tab
Click the Dictionary Entries import tab
Click Components in step 1 of the import mapping
Choose an existing or create new target workspace by typing a new workspace name
Configure the first column by clicking on the pencil icon and choosing “Custom ID” as the column type
Repeat the same step for “Dictionary entry name” and select “Component (name)” as the column type
Change the component type to “Dictionary entry”
Repeat the same step for “Parent dictionary category ID” and select “Parent component” as the column type
Click Format dropdown and choose “Custom ID”
Click Field name dropdown and choose “Dictionary category id”
Repeat the same step for “Description” and select “Description” as the column type.
Repeat the same step for “Signavio dictionary entry URL” and select “Field” as the column type.
Click Review import
You should now see the number of components to be created and can click Import my data.
Note: You may see warnings for duplicate component entries. This is normal when importing data of this structure
It is beneficial to save your created configuration in the case where you would like to import dictionary entries in combination with other data such as activities or activities and processes.
Note: Ensure hierarchical Signavio data, like Dictionary Categories and Entries, reside in the same Ardoq workspace for optimal organization.
Custom filtering
In the case where you’d like to filter specific dictionary categories or process categories, you can click the “Filter” button on the top-right area of the Fields selection table (as shown in screenshot below).
If you would like to filter on specific data categories such as Roles, IT systems, Support Processes, etc.
To use the filter, type (case sensitive) the name of the category you would like to filter for import. You may filter multiple categories by comma-separated words. Process categories and dictionary categories can be filtered together to create different subsets of data.
Data can also be filtered on the data mapping table by using the regular table filter functionality.
Diagram Preview for Process Diagrams
Ardoq has extended our integrations with process modelling tools like SAP Signavio to allow imports of process diagrams. Imported diagrams can then be previewed within Ardoq without leaving the platform.
Importing Diagrams
When importing processes into Ardoq, keep in mind the Process diagram URL field in your import.
You can map this URL using the new File field type and it will automatically be brought into Ardoq as a document.
Viewing Diagrams
Process diagram previews are currently limited to the Pages view within workspaces:
Clicking on the diagram URL will preview the process diagram within Ardoq with the ability to zoom and download the file: